Electronic devices for power supplies and similar applications are conventionally provided in a protective, heat-dissipation package. These board mounted power conversion modules are widely used in telecommunications or computer-related electronic data processing environments.
Similar to other consumer electronic products (for example, notebook computers), these board mounted power conversion modules are being packaged with more functions and more output power in smaller size, lighter weight, lower profile, and higher efficiency modules. The power density (total output power divided by the volume of the power module) of today's board mounted power modules is increasing as new products are introduced. However any improvements in power, density and profile cannot be at the expense of the electrical characteristics of the components and the overall power supply. A significant improvement in types of board mountable electronic devices was made in the encapsulated board mountable power supply of the type described in Stevens U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,350, entitled "Encapsulated, Board-Mountable Power Supply and Method of Manufacture Therefor." Such a device represents a significant manufacturing advance and convenience from both a time and monetary perspective.
While the invention described in Stevens provided a significant advance in the manufacture of electronic equipment, it shares a limitation with other new generation, small-sized, board mountable electronic circuits. That limitation is the fact that it lacks a convenient method of providing a case grounding connection between the substrate of the device housed in the case and the supporting substrate upon which the device is mounted.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a device or method to provide a case grounding connection between a substrate of a circuit contained in a board mountable case and the substrate that supports the cased circuit as a part or component of a larger circuit. Such a case grounding device or method must provide a reliable case ground while preserving the convenience of permitting an assembly process that only requires the cased circuit to be plugged into a supporting substrate. Preferably, the technique should be cost-effective and suitable for mass production.